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Ben's Week In Review: April 11

Abnormally warm this past week but it's cooling back down now. And that's good, 'cuz I haven't installed the A/C in the bedroom yet.

Still confused about that "Uncharted 2 isn't revolutionary" comment...

There aren't many complaints about Uncharted 2 but one of the few legitimate complaints may actually center on a lack of "innovation." I suppose one could claim that it doesn't do anything "new" and so, that argument would mean that Naughty Dog's fantastic title actually isn't "revolutionary." But to say it isn't revolutionary because it's only on one platform? Could someone explain that statement to me, please? I haven't the slightest idea what that could mean. First of all, a game can redefine a genre even if it sells twelve damn copies on some random, unheard-of platform; the revolutionary aspect has no bearing on sales or popularity. It's all about the quality. Secondly, I'm really starting to hate this general emphasis on innovation and that if a game doesn't do something entirely new these days, we critics should be taking points off. Never mind that Uncharted 2 manages to do about a dozen elements of video games better than most any other game before it. Never mind that it's a masterful production. We have to give it an 8 because it isn't "new."

Got just one reply to that- 'middle finger UP' As for this "can't be revolutionary when limited to one platform" thing, I've given up trying to understand it. I guess that means that sales and popularity is relevant and in fact, crucial. I guess that means that only if everyone responds can it be deemed "revolutionary." And maybe you can view it that way. But I'll be an annoying purist on the matter and stick to quality as the only determining factor. And has anyone considered that Uncharted 2 might be revolutionary simply because it's now a measuring stick for all developers who wish to make a game in the action genre...?

Heavy Rain's a hit...that makes my day

As most of our regular readers know, I'm a huge fan of Heavy Rain and I've often voiced my concern that the general gaming populace isn't mature enough to embrace it. At the end of my review, I said I was very worried because if the game flopped, it meant that the designers have grown up faster than the gamers. But obviously, that isn't the case, although I know some people were swayed by the glowing reviews. Quantic Dream has announced that Heavy Rain has now sold over a million copies and it should hit 1.5 million by year's end. That's just fantastic news and it got me to wondering...I know it would've sold more as a multiplatform game but would the Xbox 360 version have sold as many? There has been many accusations leveled against the 360 crowd; i.e., they're more immature than the PS3 owners (and if you spend any time on Live, you might have to agree). But perhaps Alan Wake will help us determine that. It should be fairly intellectual and I'll be interested to see how well it sells...

Anyway, if you haven't played "The Taxidermist" DLC yet and you loved Heavy Rain, make sure to nab it. I'll be playing all the DLC for this one; that's for damn sure.

Personal gaming update

Yup, it's still all about Final Fantasy XIII, although I've spent a good chunk of time over the past week with Yakuza 3. The review is up now and I do apologize for the delay, but we're still trying to catch up after a silly March. Sega's third entry in that popular franchise really is pretty great and I do recommend it. But I just have to push forward in FFXIII and when I'm done, it's on to God of War III and then, Splinter Cell: Conviction. I've always loved that franchise and I've played every game so I'm not about to miss this one. And please, MGS fans, don't go nutty on me; as far as I'm concerned, you really can't compare the two. I play MGS and SC for two very different reasons. And later, I really want to get involved in Red Dead Redemption and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.

New Comment System

Legacy Comment System (55 posts)

Yah, I still don't understand that comment either Ben, so you're not the only one ^.^

I'm also really glad that Heavy Rain got the sales recognition it deserved (it did really well for a February release title, in my opinion).

And as for XIII, I'm in Chapter 12, and I farmed 400000-500000 CP for my characters...the first 10 chapters were really a build-up to the last 3, now that I look back (feels like FFX all over again...grinded for 15 hours straight in that game, and 26 in XIII, all in Chap 11!!).

Also, the story isn't incomprehensible like what other gaming sites and people in general would say, but that's probably because of the Datalog (I generally love reading, and I read every single thing the Datalog threw at me).

So Datalog or no, I understood everything that was going on, and since I watch a lot of anime, I was immune to the melodramatic, whiny moments lol (except for the sounds Vanille makes in battle...but I got immune to that too ^_^)

i suggest putting off grinding till after you finish it. after i beat the game, i went and got the growth egg, the connoseur ,and the collectors catalog. Once i had that, the best place to farm is in eden where the adamantoise falls through the floor. in 2 hours you can get several incentive chips, credit chips, platinum ingots for gil, and also trapezohedrons if you're lucky. In 2 hours you can farm the max allowed amount of cp with the growth egg. just spam death on adamantoise and build up tp gauge with the weaker enemies.

Got you beat Ben, I put up an 8000 BTU AC in my room. Ah it's so good.

I capped off FFXIII at about 50 hours, Ben you will be underwhelmed by the final boss, but the ending itself is really satisfying. It's good to be back in White Knight Chronicles though with its towns and shops and such things.

I almost wish you could do a review on Splinter Cell because I don't know if it's just me or Heavy Rain spoiled the crap out of me but SCs graphics just look terribly last gen and drab. Lots of painfully clear polygons and bad textures. Looking very much forward to the Red Dead Redemption review, at least by then you guys won't be as backed up as LV's toilet.

i think i got over 100 hours on ff13 chasing marks and trophies. then i got to a mark with crazy hp while my damage max for one character is 50000 which doesnt put a dent on the enemy hp. plus the guy couldnt be hurt while he healed himself. the thing got so tedious so i gave up. i'll get back to it if i feel like it later. now i think im gonna finish up god of war then heavy rain and finally resonance of fate.

John, do you have the deal for Light that lets her knock off a ton at near the end of a Stagger? I forget if it's a weapon or accessory or what (I hit a bit of the sauce tonight with the boys) but it often hits off between 50,000 and 99,999 off the propaganda (enemies). Very satisfying when she does the smite.

hey jhon, how is resonance of fate? its pretty hard to come by where i live, and it LOOKS pretty good, but id like somones gameplay impressions on it..

btw ben, any chance we can get a review of it? doesnt have to bbe the entire game, id just like to see your take on the battle system and the exploration/towns/customisation factors on the game...thanx!

World: I do enjoy the story but I have to say that this is my least favorite FF. Great game, of course. And I'd definitely do a SC review if it was on the PS3; I know the graphics don't look too great but it has always been about the gameplay.

ive actually had a change of heart with that, i think what hes trying to say is it has not revolutionized the genre, as in change the way we play third person shooters.which is true, in all third person shooters, well in all shooters for that fact all you do is cover, shoot, dodge grenade, rinse and repeat.uncharted 2 is not really that much different!sure it has the stealth mechanic which sometimes works and sometimes does not, i have lost count the amount of times i have gone to do a silent kill on someone than end up swinging at thin air, they see me (somehow even though they have their back to me, have eyes in the back of their head do they?) and i get killed.

you want a game that revolutionized the genre?splinter cell conviction is that game!i was dissing it because its changed from a stealth game, to a mindless shooter but that may not be strictly correct.they have opened it up so its up to the player how he or she wants to play it.ND should take a few tips from SPC, now THAT is how you do a cover system, and THAT is how you do a stealth mechanic.everyone always said gears of war has the best cover system, looks like its got some competition!

The problem with Cox's comment wasn't about him saying that U2 wasn't revolutionary. It was about him saying that it can't be revolutionary or "redefining of the genre" because it is exclusive to one platform.

Well, I don't know what the man was smoking, but a single platform game can not only revolutionize a genre, it can redefine a genre, hell a great single platform game that was probably played by less than 200,000 people basically *DEFINED* a genre. I'm talking about a game called Elite that was released on a wonderful 8-bit home computer with (at best) 32KB of RAM (the Acorn BBC Micro) in the UK, back in 1984. so whatever this person's problem with uncharted is, it holds no water with me. I think it's a case of game envy.

Personal gaming update.

Well, my PS3 is back to normal after the long week of formatting and re-downloading.

I should back up my saves...but I found out all about the PS3-specific saves when I changed from the old 60GB model to the new 120GB. Thankfully, I think I only have to give up one or two of my old saves.

Btw, do you have the option for a cable modem in your area? I've done both DSL and cable and I vastly prefer the latter.Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 4/11/2010 8:23:48 PM

Yes, we have the option to go cable, we'd switched to DSL because our old cable operator was teh suck. However, our DSL has become slower and slower, and laggy and plain intolerable, so we're switching this month back to cable.

PS3 specific saves are a terrible idea that were thought up by people who never considered that an HDD might fail. At very least they ought to support an encrypted export to USB.

I'm looking into some UPS options for our home electronics - principally the computers, PS3s, phone, network and smaller screens. Good lord when I put it that way I'll need a 10KVA device - LOL! Realistically, some smaller ones to protect the PS3s is pretty much what's needed.

But the impact of a power glitch can be really insidious, the powerloss I think caused the problem happened months ago. I guess the PS3 finally needed the sectors that had been corrupted.

Ben, I agree with you for once (oh yes it's a warm cozy feeling) in most of what you write. Of course a game selling 12 copies on some weird platform (the iPhone?) could be revoluzionary in the way it gives the player something actually new. Furthermore I agree that games should not be penalized for not adding anything new to a genre, as long as it's good. But with U2 getting an average of 96% you can't really claim that this is happening.

However, in order to create a revolution you can't be just one guy rallying all alone on the corner of a plaza. What you say may be very revolutionary and really would change the whole damn government and how it runs, but without the masses there will be no revolution!

So, this genious piece of software running on the iPhone may be bygones and forgotten, had it not also been done available for the PS3 and PSP on PSN, Steam for the PCsa and a X360 version (just for the examples sake). THEN it gets the attention of the masses, the industry, and the revolution can begin.

Actually, it doesn't need the masses; it would need the recognition of the industry insiders so they could consider it a "measuring stick" game, as they do with Uncharted 2. That's how I see it, anyway.

The game 'Elite' originally came out in the UK in 1984 for the Acorn made BBC Micro. The vast majority of those ancient 8-bit computers were used in schools, I'd actually be surprised if more than a couple of hundred thousand people purchased the original elite for that old home computer. However virtually every space trading/star fighter game since then owes much of it's existence to Elite. So a game with a tiny market penetration can affect the entire global gaming industry. Elite did it by being simply the best game of it's type ever, and in may ways the first game of it's type ever. The original version was ported to other systems including the old C64 an eventually the game grew beyond the UK and has spawned a couple of follow-ups since, and a fourth Elite is currently in the works (I believe that there is even a PS3 version likely). Games like Privateer take their game play and structure directly from the template Elite laid down. So it's absolutely proven that a game on a tiny niche platform can change the industry. It was the developers of games on other platforms that took note of Elite, it was the developers themselves trying to push the game to other - similar systems. The insiders recognized Elite for what it was, but the initial product sold into a niche market in the UK which globally speaking was already a niche market itself.

I agree that it's the attention of the industry that matters in the end, but their attention tends to be caught by the attention of the public. It goes more or less hand in hand. Not just by sales figures (even though that's a huge attention grabber) but by sheer fuzz, "talk of the town".

And the *legendary* Elite was a BIG hit back then, Highlander! Oh man, even those of us who did not own a BBC knew about Elite, and cued up behind the friends with BBC micro computers just to have a glimpse of the masterpiece.Last edited by Beamboom on 4/12/2010 5:02:06 AM

That comment about Uncharted 2 not redefining the genre is pure nonsense. I don't think anyone would seriously argue that it should (or could) be ported over to the Wii, which blows the argument right out of the water. It's just sour grapes from some guy who's games are kind of nothing in comparison to Uncharted.

It's great that Heavy Rain has sold well. I really hope we see more of a shift toward mature games from now on. The average age of gamers is somewhere in the mid 30's, and us older folks have been sadly neglected for far too long.

I've been playing Chronicles of Riddick Escape From Butcher Bay this week. Good game, only gripe is that it saves at random times, and if it saves when your health is really low, you've got some tough going to reach the next health powerup. Other than that, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I really like the atmosphere and presentation.

Final fanatasy XIII is a game I still can't decide on. Should I buy it?Finished FFX again last week :) trying to complete FFX2 now but its such a disappointment compared to FFX :(And don't even get me started on FFXII *BARF* :P

Comments like the one Cox made get under my skin sometimes, then I just mark it up to getting attention for the game he's working on. But just saying something like that in general just irks me.

Started Heavy Rain last week and good gravy the beginning was so heartbreaking. I'm at the beginning of the second chapter now and I can't wait to get back at it (I borrowed my brother's copy). I want to support the devs for such a wonderful experience so far and yet to come, so I'll be getting my copy soon.

As for me I'm STILL trying to get the last trophy on inFAMOUS (Casey Jones) and I'm on my fourth play-through on GOWIII. I figured out how to get the 'Hitman' trophy and I just have to get back to the spot where I can get it. Just two more trophies for that and I'll have three platinum trophies (yay).

omy god yeah infamous!!! those throphies, some of those stunts in the stunt list suck to put together, like you gotta shoot a guy , then drop and hit him with the shockwave, catch is, you gotta hit im with lightning bolt WHILE IN THE AIR, then dropshockwave him, but most of those stuns are pretty fun to get!!!

personal gaming update, i went back to brutal legend and finished it. i also beat god of war 2 and went out and found the god of war 3 collectors edition. i really want to play more god of war 3 but my gf complains i play it to much.

i was playin god of war 1 one night tryin to beat it to move on to 2 then 3. my gf was complainin "all you do is play god of war, im sick of this turn it off and spend time with me." so i turned off the ps3 without even saving anything grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. as soon as the tv came on it was kevin butlers commercial with the gf being ignored cuz of god of war 3. we both thought it was funny.

my gf and kid continue to play little big planet and argue with each other. they have yet to get the co-op play down.

i really want to play heavy rain and that is my next game to buy. my gf was mad i bought god of war 3 instead of heavy rain.

does anyone know what the dominus skin in the god of war collection does??Last edited by frylock25 on 4/11/2010 12:05:16 PM

Uncharted 2 could be revolunity for making nonthing new something new...If that makes sence,

ANd I hope Heavy Rain sells more then they expect by end of the year.I bought it yesterday and its very interesting, but for some reason the emotional strings aint working for me =/ and i got sad at Killzone 2...When Gaza died..something is wrong with me..=/

I can think of few games that are truly revolutionary. And usually, those games happen when an upgrade in processing or control interface comes about. People can get bent out of shape for all kinds of reasons. If someone wants to rag on Uncharted 2 to bring themselves attention, fine. Uncharted 2, both, exceeded my expectations in quality, and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience that raised the bar for gaming excellence. It didn't re-invent the wheel, but it sure as heck made a Ferarri out of an everyday car.

I agree with you and that was a good pun ^.^ but if anything at least both aspects of the game is incredible...So I must think this guy will say Modern Warafre is revolunary because it sold pretty damn well?!

Total BS on the whole "Uncharted 2 isn't revolutionary because it's on one platform." For one, that's what makes it revolutionary, it's on a platform that didn't have a trademark to it yet. Uncharted 2 is a very big icon in the PS3 world, aside from the FF series. I don't think we have to understand the language of someone who doens't know what they're talking about and who can't seem to spot an amazing and ground-breakng game when they see one. That's like someone looking at FF and calling it mediocre.
And the whole term of it needing to be something new to be revolutionary? Um... What IS new these days? What is original these days? Not much. Sure, the storyline and plot of Uncharted is like any other Indiana Jones story, but the quality, like you said Ben, is what made it so revolutionary. 8? Might as well give GoWIII a 5 while you're at it.
Also, I finally played Heavy Rain for the first time a couple days ago and it blew my mind just for the first 30 minutes of it. I'm luckily subscribing to Gamefly soon and that's one of the first ones I'm getting. Amen.

I would really like to do Gamefly, but the turn around time for a game is 7-8 days (their closest distribution center is a few states away). However, the price is great. The Blockbuster Game-Pass has worked nicely so far for me.